Testimonials
Brain Gym has
changed the way
we do things at our school
On Monday mornings each week we have a school wide assembly.
During this time we pick one brain gym to model to all of our
students. The brain gym Is modeled school wide for about a
month. Once teachers and students feel comfortable using it
then we use the brain gym in our classes.
At first the students just saw the activities as fun, but
even some students are beginning to see the difference it's
making. "It really gets me ready for my learning day!" as one
student said.
The fifth grade teacher has some of his students use the
balance boards while they are reading. Regularly, you can
walk by his room and see 2-3 students reading while
balancing.
Some teachers have seen such a tremendous difference in their
students that they are using it every day for transition
time. The first grade teacher, Kemsen Bourque has made Brain
Gym part of her day. It's NOT an add-on, she sees it as a
necessity.
She has two students who do Brain Gym activities frequently.
throughout the day. One student who has formerly had trouble
staying on task and/or being defiant has made huge gains with
having Brain Gym® in his life. One day she was experiencing
difficulty some activity. Having trouble all day she worked
with some Brain Gym® exercises and began to notice shifts and
she said that her fussing was a BIG mistake and will never
not do it again.
Some of the older students are even able to identify the
particular Brain Gym they need for a given activity.
During a first grade observation, I noticed a little student
getting all fidgety. Without the teacher saying anything, the
little student began to caress his ears 3x in an up and down
motion. After doing that, he was able to sit up and continue
on with the lesson.
We hope to learn more about Brain Gym so that we can continue
to help our students learn and grow. We know that it is
helping all of our students, but have seen some pretty strong
individual evidence of just how important Brain Gym is for
the success of these students.
Amazing program.
Jessika Sheldrick
Otisfield Community School
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What do you get when you
integrate Bal-A-Vis-X in your school
curriculum?
How about energy, coordination, concentration,
self-esteem and HUGE smiles.
This year my children and I participated in the Bal-A-Vis-X
program under the direction of Mrs. Cosgrove and Mrs.
Bushnell (parent volunteer). From the start we enjoyed being
up and about in our room using the sandbags or
balls…thinking this cannot be anything but playing
indoors. Then we quickly realized much more. We
had to synchronize our movements so they would sound as
though one person was bouncing a ball. The positioning
of our bodies, handling of the sandbags or balls coupled with
concentration was paramount to our success. Uniquely I
began to notice a rhythm, timing and flow happening with the
children’s body and body-brain integration.
My children were developing their attention to details and
gaining confidence in their ability to undertake any NEW
task. This unique program helps to center children so
they can segue into daily studies with purpose. We have
benefited greatly in so many ways!
Mrs. Ellie Marks
Silver Hill School
Haverhill, MA
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Bal-A-Vis-X helps
patients get their balance back
"I have been carrying
my racquetballs, Lazy 8s and Bal-A-Vis-X balance boards all
over the Seacoast of NH. It's been great for helping my
elderly patients get their balance back (VNA) and the kids in
all of the 5 schools magically get calm and more organized
just by standing on the Bal-A-Vis-X balance board. We've even
been able to make the sound of one ball in a few classes!!!!
Magic and miracles are happening all around and I thank you
for sharing your knowledge with me..can't wait to take
another class with you."
Karen
H.
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Students have
a ball learning
By Mike LaBella
Staff Writer
HAVERHILL -- Children in some Haverhill schools have been
tossing bean bags to each other and bouncing rubber balls in
class -- all with their teachers' approval.
What appeared to be games taking place in Alice Diegisser and
Sarina Ryan's class at Moody Elementary School are instead a
method to help children succeed academically and socially.
Both teachers have been trying a program known as Bal-A-Vis-X
-- which stands for "Balance Auditory Vision Exercises" --
and say it has had a positive effect on their students.
"I'm seeing amazing progress," Diegisser said just before
school let out for summer vacation.
In Bal-A-Vis-X, children use beanbags, racquet balls, and
balance boards in activities requiring full-body coordination
and focused attention.
"This is a little bit hard," said Moody second-grader Felisha
S. Fuentes while rocking back and forth on a balance board as
each hand bounced a rubber ball. "I think my teacher wants us
to read more carefully and not miss any words, and if we
bounce balls it will help me to read better."
The program is being introduced in Haverhill's school system
by Mary Candis Cosgrove, a part-time elementary and middle
school physical education teacher who travels from school to
school helping to integrate students with special needs into
typical physical education classes.
Cosgrove attended a Bal-A-Vis-X training program earlier in
the school year and has been using its play-like activities
with special needs and typical students for the last few
months.
Ryan, a reading specialist, said her students appear more
self-confident since practicing the Bal-A-Vis-X exercises.
"Children who would never volunteer or share are now making
eye contact and are volunteering to read stories," she said.
Cosgrove said the practice of focusing on simple and
increasingly more complex rhythmical movements gives a boost
to students' self-esteem. The repetitive motions of the
exercises can calm children with Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder, and the requirement that they work
together on many of the activities boosts students' social
skills, she said.
Standing face to face in pairs, children in Diegisser and
Ryan's class tossed beanbags back and forth in unison to
their partners, and repeated the activity over as their eyes
and hands began to develop a smooth, flowing rhythm.
"Keep your hands separated," Octavia Chaney said to her
partner, Joseph A. Sciacca, while tossing bags back and forth
to each other. "It's hard keeping track of how many times we
are doing it, and the bags are hard to catch," said Joseph.
Children switched to bouncing rubber balls, starting with
one, then two, and maybe even three until mastering skills
that will help them become better learners.
"When reading, children's eyes go left and right, and for
math their eyes go up and down," Cosgrove said. "These
exercises prepare the eyes for tracking by helping develop
motor ability."
Ryan said there has been an explosion over the last few years
in the understanding of the human brain and how it works, and
says Bal-A-Vis-X activities enable children to use a larger
percentage of their brain power.
"It's pretty up-to-date stuff," she said.
Gerald Quatrale, director of curriculum and instruction for
city schools, said Bal-A-Vis-X training is free to teachers
and is funded through grants and professional development
money. "It is another opportunity for teachers who are
looking for different avenues to reach their students,"
Quatrale said.
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MCAS brain
busters
By Mike LaBella
Staff Writer
HAVERHILL -- You can find children in as many as 40
classrooms sitting or standing quietly like human pretzels
with legs crossed, hands clasped and folded under.
Or gently tugging on their ears as though they were
struggling to clear some sort of blockage.
Teachers say these "Brain Gym" movements help their
elementary and middle school pupils expand their creativity,
focus their mental energy and get ready for learning.
They use some combination of 26 different exercises when
pupils arrive in the morning, switch from one topic to
another, and prior to quizzes or big tests like the MCAS.
Brain Gym, in use worldwide, is in its infancy in Haverhill
but 40 teachers have been trained in it, many partly at their
own expense, by consultant Cecilia K. Freeman of Kona,
Hawaii. She travels across the country teaching a program
developed in California in the 1980s.
"It's easy and it only takes a few minutes," said Lisa L.
Mini, a first-grade teacher at Pentucket Lake school whose
pupils start out with exercises in the morning.
"We call it 'getting our brains ready to work'," Mini said.
"Since using Brain Gym we are actually gaining productive
time. Children are more ready to work, and are staying on
task for longer periods of time."
She considers Brain Gym remarkable because it is so simple
for children to learn.
"Teachers who begin using Brain Gym will see almost immediate
results," Freeman said.
Golden Hill physical education teacher Gail Tatro uses Brain
Gym exercises at the start of each class.
"Sometimes children arrive all wound-up and discombobulated,"
Tatro said. "After just four or five minutes of Brain Gym
they can go from wild and unfocused, to calm and receptive."
One of Tatro's favorite Brain Gym exercises is the "Thinking
Cap." Children use their thumbs and index fingers to pull the
ears gently back to unroll them. This exercise is said to
stimulate over 400 acupuncture points in the ears that are
related to every function of the brain and body and is
designed to enhance organizational skills, ability to focus
on a task, and increase interest and motivation.
"It helps me relax," said Golden Hill third-grader pupil Kyle
J. Daynard. "I can feel it happening."
Pupil Matthew R. Cleveland likes doing "Hook-ups," a Brain
Gym exercise intended to connect the electrical circuits in
the body in order to focus both attention and disorganized
energy.
"This feels relaxing, but I can't really talk," Matthew said.
"My legs are crossed, my hands are crossed, and I'm supposed
to keep my tongue at the roof of my mouth."
Mary Candis Cosgrove is a physical education specialist and
Haverhill's only certified Brain Gym instructor.
"This isn't a 'fix it' model," Cosgrove said. "It won't
necessarily make every child an Einstein or a Michael Jordan,
but it can help a child reach his or her fullest learning
potential."
Brain Gym exercises are designed to achieve specific goals.
Teachers choose goals such as reading skills, math skills,
creative writing skills, even self-awareness skills, then
select the appropriate Brain Gym exercises.
Tilton Elementary physical education teacher Christine Munier
is convinced it works.
"When doing 'Cross Crawls,' I blend science into this Brain
Gym exercise by asking children to take their humerus, the
upper arm bone, and touch it to their femur, the thigh bone,"
Munier said. Her principal Raymond Sierpina likes Brain Gym
and asked Cosgrove to introduce the basics to parents at an
upcoming PTO sponsored family event.
Children in Lisa L. Mini's first-grade class at Pentucket
Lake may be encountered tracing a figure eight pattern with
their fingers, a Brain Gym exercise called "Lazy 8." This
exercise is intended to help prepare children for tasks such
as printing letters of the alphabet, and for reading.
Mini is so taken by Brain Gym she enrolled in a 36-hour class
this summer and earned three graduate credits for it.
"My pupils use it on their own," Mini said. "When they feel
like they have lost their attention span, or just can't sit
still, they will put themselves into a hook-up for as long as
they feel they need it."
Anyone can benefit from Brain Gym says Freeman.
"Do one or two movements before a golf game, before typing a
report, or before you begin cooking dinner," she said. "It's
a readiness activity that prepares the neurological system
for optimal performance."
Cosgrove is such a believer she would like to see Brain Gym
used throughout the city and is looking into grants to help
pay for more teacher training.
"I'd love to see the program expand as I'm convinced it
works," Cosgrove said. "Brain Gym renewed my passion for
teaching."
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